Uber to Bolster Driver Vetting after Sexual Assault incident in the U.S

Earlier this year, an incident in India made Uber to overhaul how it recruits Uber drivers , which they refer to as Uber partners. Among the measures instituted by the ride hailing company included the launch of safety initiatives such as the constituting of a safety advisory board to review practices and advise on measures to make the ride safer. Uber also instituted a quality assurance program with off-duty law enforcement and security professionals will audit activity to ensure compliance with safety regulations as well as creation of an incidence response team. Uber also included a tough recruitment benchmark for its partners to wade off former criminals, which included thorough background checks.

The company has now pledged to improve the vetting procedures after admitting a man who was previously arrested on sexual assault charges following an attack on a passenger. The Uber partner attacked the passenger a few weeks ago and had a long criminal history including a jail term for weapon charges. Commenting on the incident, Uber admitted that its strict procedures were not followed in the vetting process, which led to the admission of the driver as a partner following his application. The company has vowed to add and implement an extra layer of scrutiny for new drivers and partners as well as increase checks on documents issued to support their identification.

In other Uber stories, the San -Francisco based company has grown more than 35X in the past three years in the United States alone. Interestingly, 20% of all the revenues in the United States come from customers riding at least 20 times a month. On the customers front, at least 40% of the Uber riders use the service at least 4 times a month in the United States. Looks like Uber is doing well in the growing customers front and not so well on the making money end.